Unrest (2017) on Netflix
NR20171h 37mDocumentary
A Harvard PhD student is left bedridden by a fever at 28, and doctors blame stress. She films her symptoms and reaches out to others living the same way.
- Netflix4.4/5
- IMDb7.5/103,297 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Doctors keep dismissing the symptoms of a Harvard PhD student who fell ill at 28, so in 2012 she picks up a camera to show her doctors how sick she is, and the video diary grows into a documentary she makes over four years from her bed. The illness struck shortly before she and her husband married. Her illness is myalgic encephalomyelitis, also called chronic fatigue syndrome. She and her husband search for answers online, and that search brings her into contact with other people who are homebound with the same illness in the United States, Denmark and the United Kingdom.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Unrest (2017)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Jennifer Brea was bedbound for much of Unrest's production, so she directed remotely: she ran interviews through a Skype teleprompter, had an on-set camera streamed to her computer, and built a global team of producers and crews.
- Unrest may have helped raise ME/CFS research funding in Canada, the UK, the US and especially Australia, boosted the #MEAction network and the #MillionsMissing protests, and became accredited for Continuing Medical Education in the US.
- Brea began filming in spring 2012 after doctors dismissed her symptoms; she had considered writing a book from the videos, but switched to film once recordings convinced doctors she was ill.
- Unrest was given one of the first two Creative Distribution Fellowships from the Sundance Institute, which let Jennifer Brea keep control of the film's marketing and distribution rather than selling off the rights.
